Forward Together: Fostering a Culture of Innovation and Scholarship – University of Utah Health Academic Medical Center
Good Notes
Voices of U of U Health
By Rachel Hess, MD, MS, and Jim Hotaling, MD
At University of Utah Health, discovery has always been part of who we are. Our breakthroughs—from pioneering medical devices to life-changing research—have shaped care for generations. Now, we’re focused on the next horizon: building an even stronger culture of innovation that transforms ideas into real solutions for patients and communities.
Our goal is to make innovation work for everyone, moving discoveries into practice faster and with greater impact than ever before.
Research at U of U Health has always been about more than publications or patents. Every study, every breakthrough, and every prototype represents the potential to make someone’s life better.
That’s why we’re reframing how innovation happens across our system. Instead of waiting for discoveries to find their way into practice, we’re building bridges between research and real-world application. This means giving our scientists, clinicians, and students the tools—and the confidence—to move great ideas beyond the lab and into the lives of patients faster.
By uniting research, education, and care delivery, we’re creating a powerful ecosystem where discovery naturally leads to better health.
Across Utah and the nation, momentum for innovation has never been stronger. The state’s life sciences sector is growing rapidly, fueled by partnerships, venture investment, and a thriving entrepreneurial community. Within our own institution, research funding has surged and collaboration across disciplines is at an all-time high.
The timing is right—and so is our culture. We created a new Chief Innovation Officer role to expand commercialization pathways and form partnerships that bring together bright minds from business, technology, and health care. Most importantly, we’re empowering our departments and frontline teams to define how innovation looks in their space and how the system can support them.
Innovation doesn’t just come from a single office or lab. It comes from all of us: clinicians seeing new ways to improve care, researchers pushing the boundaries of science, and learners daring to think bigger.
At the heart of this evolution is a culture shift—one that values curiosity, creativity, and collaboration just as much as compliance or tradition.
In medicine and science, we’re trained to minimize risk. Yet innovation asks us to take smart, calculated risks—to test, fail, learn, and try again. By building structures that celebrate experimentation, we’re helping our university community move ideas forward without fear of failure.
That means:
When innovation becomes part of daily life at U of U Health, every team member becomes a problem solver, and everyone we serve benefits.
A culture of innovation doesn’t belong to one place—it thrives in the lab, the classroom, and every corner of our campus. Programs like the Center for Medical Innovation’s Bench-to-Bedside competition show what’s possible when students are empowered to develop sustainable solutions for real-world challenges.
These experiences are shaping a new generation of caregivers who see discovery and delivery as inseparable. For them, solving problems and improving systems is as natural as taking a patient history.
By embedding research and innovation into education, we’re teaching future scientists, physicians, and health professionals to see themselves not just as practitioners but as inventors, collaborators, and changemakers.
Our mission has always been clear: to improve human health. What’s changing is how quickly and effectively we can do it. Every new partnership, every seed fund, and every student project shortens the distance between discovery and delivery.
We believe universities have a responsibility—not just to generate knowledge but to share it in ways that reach the people who need it most. That’s the power of a culture where innovation and education thrive together.
Innovation is everyone’s job. This next chapter of our strategic vision is about building an environment where researchers, clinicians, educators, and learners all work together to imagine what health care can be tomorrow.
What does “a culture of innovation” mean to you, and how do you see it shaping the future of health care and education at U of U Health? Share your ideas at Together@hsc.utah.edu.
Forward Together: Collective Goal Setting
Forward Together: Building Our Patient Stewardship and Navigation Hub
Forward Together: Putting Patients at the Center of Quality Care
Rachel Hess is the inaugural Health System Chief Research Officer for University of Utah Health. Hess guides institutional research strategy and investment, connecting discovery, innovation, and clinical care to create greater impact for patients and communities. A professor of population health sciences and internal medicine, she also serves as co-director of the Utah Clinical & Translational Science Institute. Hess received an MD at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at Temple University Hospital. She completed general internal medicine and women’s health fellowships and received an MS in clinical investigation at the University of Pittsburgh.
James Hotaling is the inaugural Chief Innovation Officer for University of Utah Health and Associate Vice President for Research Innovation and Translation at the University of Utah. Hotaling leads the development of an integrated innovation enterprise that connects research, clinical care, education, and commercialization. He is a urologist and an associate professor of surgery. He runs an NIH-funded lab in genetics and male infertility and directs the Men’s Health Program. Hotaling spun out several companies with innovations he developed at the U. He received an MD at Duke University School of Medicine and completed residency in urology and surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He received an MS in clinical epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Public Health.
